Is the Asia Cup more about getting India and Pakistan to play each other?

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Sep 20, 2018, 11.06 PM IST

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By Anand Vasu

If a Trojan Horse is packed with gifts that keep giving rather than warriors intent on killing, is it still a Trojan Horse? If a sheep is in wolf’s clothing, does it continue to be a threat?

Before you start wondering if you wandered into the wrong page, this is still about sport and about cricket. Does the Asia Cup continue to be the Asia Cup if it is not necessarily about identifying the best cricket team from the continent but more about getting India and Pakistan to play each other potentially thrice? A mini bilateral series wrapped in tournament format? Here is why questions are being asked, with no real answers forthcoming. The format of the 2018 Asia Cup, of which India are the host nation, has ensured that India will play all its matches in Dubai irrespective of results. Initially the thought was that this was done by a high-handed Board of Control for Cricket in India who did not want to put their players through the grind of a 90-minute commute to Abu Dhabi. But closer scrutiny shows there could be more to this.

The Dubai International Stadium seats 25000. The Sheikh Zayed Stadium in Abu Dhabi can fit in 20000. What is the big difference in 5000, seats, you might ask. But 5000 seats of India-Pakistan matches is no trifling matter, especially when the most expensive ones cost 6000 Dirhams, or Rs 1.2 lakh apiece. The captains of the Pakistan and Bangladesh teams started by feeling slighted, but as rules were tweaked to ensure that India-Pakistan matches stayed in focus no matter what anyone else did, it became easier for everyone to see the wheels within wheels. Mashrafe Mortaza, whose team will be designated as having finished second in their group irrespective of where they finished on the points table, was especially blunt. “It is very disappointing,” he said.

“Even a mad person would be upset. What has happened is that we were made the second team in Group B even before we played the last game. It is frustrating.” Mortaza explained himself more clearly.

“We came here with a plan. We would play Sri Lanka first and if we won and played well (against Afghanistan), we would be group champions and play the runners-up of Group A. But we heard that we are already Group B runners-up regardless of whether we win or lose. So of course it is disappointing.” While Mortaza protests where he can, and hopes his cricket board will take the matter up with the Asian Cricket Council, his words echoed George Orwell’s Animal Farm and that unforgettable line: All animals are equal, but some are more equal than others.

Sarfraz Ahmed, who had spoken out on the issue earlier, was also looking at this logically and from a cricketing perspective, as he must. “If you talk about the pool, India remain here even if they lose,” Sarfraz had said. “Travelling is an issue. If you travel for oneand-a-half hour during matches, then it’s tough. In this weather, it is tough because after one day you play another game. I think it should be even for all the teams, whether it’s India or Pakistan. If there are matches in Abu Dhabi, then every team has to play there. I don’t know what the Asian Cricket Council has done about it.”

Since India and Pakistan cannot play each other bilaterally because of the political climate, and Pakistan’s players would not be allowed to travel to India to play in an Asia Cup, India is hosting the Asia Cup in Dubai, for themselves, and in Abu Dhabi, for the others who make up the tournament. In sport, all teams or individual participants, in a tournament, are meant to be treated equally. In commerce, no such rules of fair play apply.